MASTER PLAN
___________
c h a p t e r t w e n t y - s i x
Carson goes to the Stilinski house with Stiles' dad, waiting for Stiles to appear.
"They're gonna find him, Mr. Stilinski," she assures.
"I know, it's just- You should go home, you have enough to worry about. You've got a gunshot wound," he suggests.
"I'm always gonna worry about your son," she chuckles. "And I know that he would do the same if it were me."
"In fact he would probably lead a search p-" he says as Stiles comes to the doorway. She goes to the kitchen to give them a chance to talk. Once Noah comes back out, she walks into her friend's room.
"Where were you? We were worried," she sits down on the bed.
"I'm sure you were," he mutters.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You do stuff like this all the freaking time! You ran off at the rave, you went to help at the police station even when you knew you couldn't defend yourself, you didn't tell anybody Tyler was in town even though he was constantly threatening you!"
"Does it matter? I'm still alive, not a scratch on my body, right? But you have a bruise on your cheek, and your lip is busted. That's the difference between us, Stiles. I knew I would heal, that's why I don't stress about dangerous situations," she explains.
"And what if you didn't heal? What if you died the other night? What was I supposed to do if you died? Huh? Take this stupid bracelet as a daily reminder that you aren't around anymore? Give some pathetic speech at your funeral about how extraordinary you were and go about my life?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Do you know what it was like that night of the dance? Watching the doctors desperately trying to save you, having your dad scream at me cause you were dead? What about the other night, huh? I had to sit in that stupid hospital just waiting for the bad news. Do you know what it's like to think that you're gonna lose the most important person in your life? To lose the only person you've ever loved?"
"Stiles-" she tries to say, suddenly bombarded with a flood of moments that made her feel for the boy standing in front of her.
"It, uh, brings out your eyes."
"Well I think you look beautiful."
"I don't want to be that annoying girl who needs someone to sleep with her, but can you stay?"
"Stiles, I'm fine. I'm right here, perfectly fine."
"You think I'm a hero?"
"No, I, uh, didn't mean to-" he's cut off by her phone ringing on his desk incessantly. He looks at it to see Isaac's name in bold letters.
"Maybe you should leave," he whispers, handing her the phone.
"Stiles, wait-"
"Just go," he mumbles.
"I'm sorry," she walks out the door.
"Bye, Mr. Stilinski, I'm gonna go. Thanks for letting me stay," she storms out, Noah missing the subtle wipe of her tears.
Carson starts walking to her car when she gets another call from Isaac.
"You're starting to become a stalker, Lahey."
"Can you drive to the hospital? Meet us there," he asks.
"Yeah I'll be there in five minutes," she starts the engine.
Meanwhile Noah goes back to the room after she walks out.
"You guys finally get together?" he asks his son.
"No, uh, she wants to be with someone else," he looks at her bracelet sadly.
"You know, one of these days, you're really gonna lose her. You love her right? Then prove it to her, because she's not a mind reader, and she will really leave because you're not giving her a reason to stay," he pats his back, as Lydia knocks on the front door.
"Think it's her?" he looks back, and Stiles shakes his head in doubt.
"I told her to go. She's not coming back anytime soon," he sighs, disappointed in himself.
Noah just pats his shoulder, letting the strawberry blonde in the house.
"Can I come in?"
"Sure."
____
"Okay, what's going on?" she pulls up to the two boys, still reeling from Stiles' confession.
"We have a Jackson problem," Isaac sighs.
"He's gonna become a bigger kanima in a few minutes and we need your help carrying him to the car," Scott tells her, pointing to the body bag.
"Okay, this is gross. I don't want to carry a Jackson-cocoon," she frowns.
"Please?" they both say.
"Fine, let's go," she grabs Isaac's side of the bag, as Scott grabs the other. They run through the parking lot until Scott drops the body.
"Dude!" Carson shouts, as he shrugs. Soon after, Mr. Argent comes out of his car.
"You're alone," Scott observes.
"More than you know," he replies.
"Yeah, where is your newly badass daughter?" Carson asks, earning two glares.
"You ask one question, and everybody looks at you like the devil," she mumbles, making Isaac laugh.
They discuss the issue at hand for a while, before deciding to go.
"You want me to leave my car? Really?" she looks around.
"Carson, we don't have time for this," Isaac raises an eyebrow.
"Ugh, you guys are so annoying," she slams the car door.
"Uh, watch my doors!" Chris yells.
"Uh, watch your dad!" she retorts.
"Carson please don't get us kicked out of another adult's car," Scott sighs, sitting down.
"Well as long as the adult treats me with the utmost respect, there won't be a problem," she smirks.
"She do this often?"
"Try all the time."
______
"Where's Carson?" Lydia comes in Stiles' room, eliciting a look of shock.
"Sure Lydia, come in my room completely uninvited," he sighs, and she crosses her arms in the doorway.
"Where is she? I can't get a hold of her and the last time I saw her she was looking for you, so..." she explains.
"She's not here."
"Obviously," she scoffs. "What'd you do?"
"Why do I have to have done anything? She was here and she left."
"Did she tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"That-" she starts, quickly realizing Stiles had no idea what she was talking about. "Nevermind. Is that a TV?"
"I wasn't gonna get you a gift at first, mainly because you didn't know my name until a few weeks ago, but Carson threatened me so I spent at least an hour at Macy's trying to find something you'd like."
"You can always depend on her to go up to bat for you," Lydia chuckles, picking up the various bracelets on his desk. "She's a good friend."
"A great friend."
"You like her, don't you?" she grins.
"Eh, of course not... Is it that obvious?"
"Painfully so," she rolls her eyes. "Don't ever tell her I said this, because I will murder you, but I would tell her if I were you."
"Yeah well, we can check that off the list."
____
They arrive at a warehouse building, waiting for Derek to get there. He runs in right on cue of course.
"Does he have to be on all fours?" she whispers to Scott, receiving a disappointed look.
"I'm sorry it's just hard to take someone seriously when they're running like a dog," she looks at her feet, Isaac laughing behind her.
"I'm here for Jackson, not you," Argent warns.
"Somehow I don't find that very comforting. Get him inside," Derek gestures to the body bag.
"Where are they?"
"Who?"
"Peter and Lydia."
"What do you need Lydia for?" Carson asks.
"She's like the only way to save Jackson, something about love and whatever," Isaac explains.
"The only person Jackson loves is himself," Carson scoffs. Derek and Scott yell at each other over letting Jackson die, while Carson just imagines she was somewhere in the Bahamas. That is, until Gerard comes in.
"Anything that dangerous," he looks pointedly at the girl, "That out of control, is better off dead."
Derek goes to scratch Jackson, when he digs his claws into his chest.
"I'm gonna have to let the claws out, aren't I?" she groans, as he throws Derek across the room.
"Like the concerned friend you are, you brought Jackson to Derek to save him. You just didn't realize you also brought Derek to me," he tells Scott as an arrow pierces Isaac's chest.
"Isaac!" she drops down to help him off the ground.
"Allison?" Scott yells.
Carson feels herself shifting, this time feeling more like herself, as the rest of the wolves do as well.
The boys all run at the kanima, each getting thrown to the side. Carson runs up as well, getting a few punches in before she gets knocked to the ground. After he throws Scott against the wall, he grabs her, throwing her into a pile of wood boards. Isaac attempts to attack as well, until Allison slashes him several times with the knives. Carson sees that as a good time to get up.
"Don't," she warns, stepping in front of him.
"Don't what? Do this?" she stabs her in the stomach.
"Bitch," she scratches her arm.
"You'll heal."
"Carson stop! She's not the enemy!" Scott yells.
"My bleeding abdomen says otherwise Scotty," she groans, once the kanima grabs Allison.
"Are you alright?" she looks at Isaac.
"Are you worried about me?" he smirks.
"Not the time, Lahey."
Gerard quickly reveals his evil plans to the crew as Carson once again wishes she could bleed out and die already if it meant she didn't have to hear his monologue.
Scott forces Derek to bite Gerard, but when he starts bleeding black blood everyone looks confused.
"What the hell did I miss?" she gasps.
"What is this? What did you do?" he asks Derek.
"Everyone said Gerard always had a plan. I had a plan too," as Gerard looks at his pills.
"Mountain ash!" he yells as the blood seeps from the rest of his orifices, until he eventually throws it all up.
"That's so gross," she grimaces.
"Kill them. Kill them all!" he yells before passing out. Just then, Stiles and Lydia drive through the wall. She gets out of the car, holding the key in front of his face.
"Lydia!" Stiles tries to stop her. Jackson grabs the key, gaining some humanity back before Derek and Peter claw him on both sides. He appears to die, as Lydia holds him. Carson leans back onto Isaac, as Derek guides them away from the scene.
Once the group prepares to leave, Jackson rises, turning into the wolf he always wanted to be.
"You okay?" Isaac looks down at Carson's stomach.
"Yeah, I will be," she smiles, not seeing Stiles' sad eyes on her.
They start to walk out of the building as Isaac says, "You protected me."
"Hardly."
"But you tried, which is something you don't do for people you hate."
"Oh, don't flatter yourself," she scoffs.
"I think you like me a little bit, Rivera," he smirks, walking away.
"And I think you're a cocky bitch," she laughs.
____
Carson walks out of the shower to see her mom on her bed. She frowns and sits on the bed as the older woman wraps her arms around her.
"What happened?" she rubs her back.
"Stiles told me he's in love with me tonight," she sighs.
"Why is that a bad thing?"
"Because he didn't mean it. They never do."
"If anyone is in love with you, it's definitely that boy. I watched him clean your car by hand once, okay? In 20 degree weather. Just because you said it looked a bit dingy," she laughs.
"But he loves Lydia. He bought her that huge birthday present, he even bought a TV!"
"You're deflecting. You don't doubt he's in love with you because of Lydia, you doubt him because of yourself," she grabs her hand.
"What does that even mean?"
"It means, that you don't understand why he would be in love with you. Because you don't think it's possible."
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm in love with myself more than anyone else."
"You're in love with your status, your looks, your power. Not your character. And because of that, you won't allow yourself to believe that Stiles likes you the way you are."
"We're better off as friends. I would just hurt him."
"I can't tell you what to do or how to feel. You'll do whatever your heart tells you."
"That's very unhelpful. And cheesy as hell."
"Maybe. Now pick your chin up, because you have training with Derek starting next week," she gets up.
"What? Do I get a say in this?"
"No, love you, bye!"
____
The next week, Stiles and Scott go to the field to practice lacrosse.
"So, you really think she's gonna come back to you?" Stiles asks.
"Yeah, I know she is. What about you and Lydia? Or I guess Carson now?"
"Yes, Scott. I am in love with Carson, have been for like six years, keep up. And while I may not have a chance with her now, I'm not gonna give up on her."
"Well, you kind of hid that from me for three of those years, but whatever. Why don't you just ask her out?"
"Yeah, okay-- why don't you just get into the goal and help me make team captain like you promised, there, big guy!" he scoffs, as Carson walks onto the field.
"I thought we talked about excluding me from all the fun?" she smirks, clearly just coming from training.
"Derek?" Stiles asks.
"Unfortunately," she groans, standing next to Stiles. They just look at each other for a moment, before Scott breaks the silence.
"Hey, you know what I just realized? I'm right back where I started," Scott looks at them.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, no lacrosse. No popularity. No girlfriend. Nothing."
"Dude, you still got me!"
"And me! Which is something to appreciate, by the way," she adds.
"I had you both before."
"Yeah, and you still got us, okay? It's a life fulfilled."
"Very."
"Okay, now remember, no wolf powers," Stiles grabs his lacrosse stick.
"Got it."
"What are you doing?"
"Helping Stiles become captain," Scott explains.
"Oh, this'll be interesting," she sits on top of the Jeep.
"No, I meant it! No super-fast reflexes, no super-eyesight, no hearing-- none of that crap, okay?"
"Jesus, Stiles," she chuckles.
"Okay. Come on!"
"You promise?"
"Would you just take the shot already?"
"Please, you're killing me," she sighs, as he finally takes the shot. Of course, Scott completely ignores the previous conversation, and uses his wolf powers.
"I said no wolf powers!" he yells.
"Good luck, Sti," she laughs.
_________
author's note: it hurt to write this